Tag: Reading

It sure doesn’t feel like fall in Houston with 95 degree highs and the heat index bringing it up to 106. But with the kids starting back up with school, it makes it seem as if cooler weather is just around the corner. With homework and school projects back in play, we are getting more serious about books and completing reading lists. This doesn’t mean it can’t be fun – we continue to read aloud, participate in school reading contests, and visit the library to discover new books.

We all know the importance of reading to young children, and bedtime stories have been a nightly ritual even when our kids were toddlers and would rather chew on the books than listen to them. However, we seem to think that once children learn to read on their own we do not need to read aloud to them anymore. This falls by the wayside especially as homework and extra-curricular activities vie for our attention. According to Scholastic’s “Kids and Family Reading Report”, more than half of children from the ages 0-5 are read aloud at home 5-7 days a week. This falls to 34% at ages 6-8, and 17% at ages 9-11. Even though my older daughter can easily read books by herself, she still loves being read to at night. It has been a ritual for us and bedtime just isn’t complete without a story or two. Yet it is so much more than that, these are some of the reasons it is important to read aloud to older kids:

I’ve only watched the first two seasons of Homeland but I am hooked on this TV series. While browsing at the local public library I saw that there were prequel novels based on the show. I had finished the first novel, Carrie’s Run, and am now reading Saul’s Game. Here we are given a look into the background of the characters and the events that led to the issues facing the Middle East.

I am finally getting around to reading George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, starting with A Game of Thrones. I love the TV series but there is just so much more detail given to the characters and setting when you read the book that I have a hard time putting it back down and turning off the light.